The Best Places to be a Landlord

Diana Olick | October 19, 2017

Higher home prices and a tight supply of homes for sale may be the mantra nationwide. But certain markets are still offering lucrative options for investors.
Real estate sales and auction company TenX released its top picks for investors and Texas had the most markets on its list, scoring three out of the top five. Texas continues to post strong growth in employment and home construction. San Antonio topped TenX’s list for best places for investors, posting strong population growth for six years and having incomes hit all-time highs. San Antonio is followed on the list by two other Texas hot spots: Fort Worth and Dallas.
Home prices are rising quickly in Texas, but they remain low compared to some other hot markets, like in California, TenX notes.
“If you look at our report, probably eight or nine of the top 20 markets in terms of housing performance are in either Texas or Florida,” says Rick Sharga, executive vice president at TenX. “The Florida markets will be more directly impacted because Irma hit everything, but even in Texas, a lot of the construction and labor and materials and so forth that’s been going to build new properties in Dallas and Fort Worth and San Antonio might get diverted to rebuild Houston, and that could have a noticeable impact on home sales and home starts over the next six to nine months.”
Investors have had to shift course in many cities as the number of low-priced or foreclosed homes dries up.
“What they’re really looking to do now is make money on the month-to-month rent, so in a lot of cases they’re buying properties at full value,” Sharga told CNBC. “In some cases, they may even be slightly overpaying for properties, but they’re making it up in the rental income over the period of time.”
The following are the top 10 markets for investors, according to TenX:
San Antonio
Fort Worth, Texas
Dallas
Columbus, Ohio
Tampa, Fla.
Orlando, Fla.
Indianapolis
Austin, Texas
Nashville, Tenn.
Raleigh, N.C.